Effect of Fermentation Time and Vegetable Concentrate Addition on Quality Parameters of Organic Botifarra Catalana, a Cured–Cooked Sausage

Abstract

The effects of the addition of two different sources of nitrite (pure NaNO2 or a nitrate-rich vegetable concentrate) and three different fermentation times with nitrate-reducing cultures (6, 12, or 24 h at 16 °C) on microbial counts, pH, residual nitrate and nitrite amounts, and susceptibility to oxidation of botifarra catalana sausage were studied. Moreover, curing efficiency, color, tocopherol and tocotrienol contents, oxidative status, and consumer acceptability of these sausages were assessed after vacuum packaging and storage at 4 °C for up to 180 days. Residual nitrate and nitrite amounts were lower than the limits established by the European Union for organic meat products. Longer periods of fermentation produced higher meat curing efficiency ratios, whereas consumer acceptability scores were highest for sausages with added vegetable concentrate. Storage of the sausages caused small quality changes. Therefore, these results indicate that vegetable concentrate is a useful alternative for organic cured-cooked meat products.

Nitrite-free Asian hot dog sausages reformulated with nitrite replacers

“…In the case of reformulated sausages, other factors have to be taken into account. In the given conditions, the colour that developed in RC and RA samples is attributable to the action of the added colouring in all cases, to the effect of the nitrifying agents (nitrate which is reduced to nitrite) in the celery (Chung et al 2004;Sindelar et al 2007a, b;Magrinya et al 2009Magrinya et al , 2012, and to a lesser extent to the ODF.…”

“…To limit this unhealthy effect, there have been proposals for the omission or lowering of nitrite/nitrate (by means of different alternatives for colour, lipid oxidation and safety purposes) in meat processing, and the application of strategies to inhibit damage due to nitros(yl)ation reactions (Pegg and Shahidi 2000;EFSA 2003;Zarringhalami et al 2009). The use of non-meat ingredients which by nature contain high nitrate levels, such as celery, has been proposed to avoid direct addition of nitrite to meat products (Sindelar et al 2007a, b;Magrinya et al 2009Magrinya et al , 2012Tahmouzi et al 2013). However, the modification and processing conditions needed to replace it may affect the technological properties and quality of meat products in different ways depending on the type of product.…”

Use of tocopherol extract and different nitrite sources and starter cultures in the production of organic botifarra catalana, a cooked cured sausage

“…Food Science and Technology International 0(0) previous results at nitrite source concentrations equivalent to 80 mg NaNO 2 /kg (Magrinya et al, 2012). Table 3 shows that VC affected the curing process, because those sausages in which this nitrite source was used seemed to have a lower curing efficiency.…”

“…The interactions found for the hue angle and chroma values are probably also a consequence of the intense nitrate reductase activity of the S. carnosus culture. In addition, several authors (Magrinya et al, 2012;Terns et al, 2011aTerns et al, , 2011bTsoukalas et al, 2011) have found that similar VC produced lighter and yellower sausages compared to those made with pure sodium nitrite, and this was also attributed to the intrinsic color of the powder. The color of the sausages was constant throughout storage.…”

“…However, residual nitrate levels showed a different pattern of behavior during storage (Table 3). The regeneration of nitrate from nitrite is not uncommon in meats (Magrinya et al, 2012;Sindelar et al, 2010;Terns et al, 2011aTerns et al, , 2011bTsoukalas et al, 2011), and was attributed to an oxidative reaction between the added nitrite and various compounds present in the food matrix. The conversion to nitrate upon storage is confirmed to occur in this study in which even lower ingoing amounts of nitrite sources were assessed (equivalent to 70 instead of 80 mg NaNO 2 /kg used in our previous study).…”